It’s been some years that I am not able to log in to my Google account, because I stopped using it for a very long time any Google product, and now even providing my password, they say they can not know if it is me or now…
They send me to this support page which seems like I have lost my account with all the data and stuff I had from when I was younger…
I don’t think this is normal or ethic to do (I know Google has been never ethic), but this makes me so angry because I never wanted to lose all that data…
Do they basically know every people networks? And if you don’t let them know… you lose access to Google? … 😠
A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
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Passwords are no longer passwords?
Two-factor authentication is required. In most cases you can use a TOTP authenticator app. This is the most privacy-friendly way to do 2FA to my knowledge, as it requires no information at all to be shared by you.
Of course, it’s not unknown for Google to randomly lock accounts, but there’s not really much you can do about that anyway.
In theory. In practice lots of services will require you to tell them your phone number in order to unlock the ability of using TOTP for 2FA.
It’s completely bogus because of course there’s no relation between phone number and a TOTP app, but people who aren’t tech savvy will buy it because they associate the one with the other because it’s all happening “on the phone” so they think “they must need to confirm my phone in order to use 2FA on my phone, makes sense”.
Off the top of my head, Google and Twitch (Amazon) do that right now. LinkedIn and Facebook used to do it but have relented after being broken into over and over again, which compromised lots of accounts without 2FA.
I’ve had Google temporarily lock my account even though:
None of that matters. Their stupid system will automatically decide to lock you out for whatever reason and that’s it.
I’m glad I reduced the use of that email address down to nothing and that I moved out my calendar and events and I’m no longer using Google Pay.
Which, btw, does not work without running Google (tracking) Services on your phone.